August 2011 Progress Update

Great progress on R & D front!

1.Charger Since we launched our open-source charger design there have been a huge amount of interest in open-source solutions within the EV conversion community. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of all this interest is the creativity with which people apply our designs & hardware. We have people who are using it to charge their cars, of course. But we also have people using them as high-output power supplies, to jump-start their electric cars with a smaller battery using DC boost feature, etc!

2. Controller As promised, we have been busy at work designing our own motor control electronics, with the final target of 900kW peak power (or over 1,000 wheel horsepower). We have just passed our first milestone in that work, having completed our Alpha version prototype. This 300kW peak power controller is installed in our first BMW prototype and is being road tested right now. At the same time, in the lab, we have successfully built and tested what is perhaps the world's smallest 200kW peak power motor controller, packing all that power in just ~500 cubic inches of space. The target application of this controller (which we are going to call eMotorWerks Micro) is for 'normal' car conversions. The design is radically more affordable than anything on the market today - and it is fully open source!

3. BMW E46 conversion solutions The first prototype is complete! We have successfully completed the design and construction work on the first 3-series BMW conversion. Once the car has been extensively test-driven to tune various components, the team will work on squeezing all the performance out of this vehicle in time for the EVcup races this November. With most of the design elements already optimized, we are starting the conversion of the second E46 BMW this fall. This "prototype B" conversion will let us streamline the manufacturing and installation processes. Overall, we are on track for public introduction of the "eMotorWerks's 1-week Electric BMW Conversion Service" before the end of this year.